City fights to keep banks accountable for blight in foreclosed homes

When Richmond’s code enforcement manager Tim Higares realized his unit was bringing in less money this fiscal year than the last, he was actually happy. He said less money means more clean-up cooperation from property owners—mostly banks—who face steep fines for allowing foreclosed properties to fall into disrepair.

Richmond was hit particularly hard by the foreclosure crisis. Higares said code enforcement receives about 3-5 complaints about newly vacant properties a week, many of which are foreclosed. There were approximately 2,300 properties in some state of foreclosure last year, up several hundred from 2009. Since then, those numbers have stagnated at best. Higares said for every property that gets picked up, he sees another go into foreclosure.